This Thursday we had "Santa Claus" come and visit at school. It was an interesting experience considering the fact that I have never been more than 10 feet away from a Santa Claus so this was very awkward but this Santa is not so nice at all .He was very creepy he walked hunched over would not open his eyes it was really weird and scary.Of course any little kid would not think this but personally I did. I swear I am taunted forever! After we took a picture he asked us what we wanted for Christmas and I said a Ferrari but he said Santa elves do not know how to make them yet so I can't get one! But really it was just a joke! Then Santa gave us pre Christmas gifts witch was a yo-yo! So fun to play with!
Remember to leave cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone!
Today I dropped by the Christmas Fair by the Cathedral. My friend Lina mentioned it as the place to go if I wanted to see Catalonia Christmas trees and decorations.
She specifically mentioned el Caganer, which are basically little pooping figurines. From what I've read having one of these is supposed to bring prosperity in the new year.
I had to see for myself and boy it was more interesting than I imagined. You had a pooping Flamenco dancer, Hello Kitty, Darth Vader and even a Jesus squatting and wishing prosperity to you.
Girona is a beautiful little town rich with history. I think.. I really wish I could share more details about Girona but honestly I was working while my family enjoyed it.
Every night though I did enjoy a lovely dinner and nice long walk. Our hotel AC Hotel was beautiful and amazingly cheap due to it being off season.
Here in Cataluña and also in Valencia, Spain, they have normal Christmas but they have added a tradition that I find so funny! It is called Tio de Nadal, (in English "christmas log"). It's nickname is Caga Tio! This tradition involves a smiling log that on Christmas day, children order it to poop and they sing a little song.
Then children in Cataluña tap this log and apparently it poops candy but this doesn’t just happen over night. The family cares for the log by putting a blanket over it and feeding it food each nite! All over Cataluña you can buy one or the whole family of pooping logs! This tradition is celebrated by almost everyone in Cataluña and Valencia A This really makes things alot more exciting for everyone! These are the little things about Spain that I love!
It's my second week at a new school. The first one didn't have mirrors. If you have two left feet and two left hands, the absence of mirrors can only make it worse.
The new school is great. The class is smaller and more casual and the instructor is a better teacher. Although I love it, I still find flamenco quite difficult. Hoping it clicks real soon.
When you go to a restaurant and look at the menu this is normally what you see Pasta con Jamon,Boccadillo de Jamon, Pizza con Jamon basically jamon,jamon,jamon! What is jamon you ask? It is pig otherwise known as pork. Here in Spain jamon is part of there life style, I understand that people like it but you don't need it in every meal! If you tell people in Spain you do not eat pork they will think you are crazy, and then offer you bacon.
They love pork so much that there are whole stores that are all pork and nothing else. The thing that is the most disturbing to me is whole ham legs curing themselves by hanging from a ceiling as they mold, smoke themselves and sweat, there is even a little plastic cup to catch the sweat as it drips down from the ham leg I find this quite gross. It also reeks and smells terrible when ever you walk past a pork shop you can smell it even though your not in the shop. I wouldn't mind these ham legs if they weren't in every bar, restaurant, and peoples homes! I just don't find them so appealing or yummy.
Around the Christmas time here when you go to a grocery store there are whole holiday displays of ham legs apparently here in Spain ham legs make great gifts considering pretty much everyone loves ham!
What I really think is interesting is ham can range from sliced ham that costs about 5 euros to whole ham legs that cost 150 euros,I do not know why people spend so much money on ham?
Bar Lobo located just off Las Ramblas, is my new favorite cafe. It has a rustic feel and an open kitchen smack front and center of the cafe. There you can see just how fresh the food being prepared is. Perfect for foodies and/or germiphobes.
The pan con tomate is the best I have had to date. For lunch, I love to get the Mint, Lime & Fresh Mozzarella Pasta. It's light yet packed with a fresh and clean flavor. Who would have thought you could marry mojitos and pasta?
Here in Spain there is a very wierd but funny tradition,it is everytime you get your hair cut people are allowed to slap you on the back of the head.
My experience with this came just last week!I got my hair cut and went into school the next day not expecting much more then a few "Oh you look diffrent" comments but no it was "Oh you look diffrent" SLAP, Hi!SLAP Buenas días! SLAP,Bon día! SLAP Que Tal? A slap here a slap there.Everyone was slapping my head.Honestly a thought it was a practical joke.So me getting annoyed I had to ask apparently it is a tradition in Spain,i felt so stupid.I mean even the teachers were doing it. Of course everybody slapped me lightly but it got to a point were I was irritated. This is a little thing that makes Spain all the more fun!
Curious about what is expensive and what is cheap compared to the States? Here you go. I'll add more as I notice them! Anything you are curious about? Comment below and I will let you know.
Cheap here compared to San Francisco
Medications - Prescription medications are just a fraction of what they cost in the states. Even with insurance you can pay $3-$20 for prescriptions in the States. No insurance can cost a lot more and sometimes over $100. Here in Spain we have paid .60 cents to 1.75 euro for basic prescriptions. I should also mention that simple things such as antibiotic eyedrops or eardrops are easy you don't even need to see a doctor. So far, I have not spent more than 2 euro for a prescription. On the other hand the farmacia sure charges a heck of a lot for other necessities (see below)
Groceries - Very inexpensive. I should have kept better notes on the cost per item but it's very common to get a bag of groceries here for about 6-12 euro. This is a huge discount from my usual WholeFoods which cost about $30-$50 per bag.
Lunch - "Menu" lunches are quite popular here. They usually come with a drink or coffee, main dish and dessert all for 6-9 euro at local cafe's. A delicious deal!
Bar Drinks - 2 euro beers, 1.75 Irish coffee's. Let me get back to you on mixed drinks.
Rent - Rent is a bargain here. You can easily rent a nice 2 bedroom for 800-1000 euro. Rent in San Francisco is famously high in the city unless you want to live in the TL.
Expensive here compared to San Francisco
General Farmacia products - Let's start with Hand Sanitizer. The little mini ones you see at every Walgreens or grocery stores back home are just .99 cents and cost 4 euro here. 4 EURO! A larger version which is more like a medium bottle is 20 euro. Binkies cost 5-6 euro for 1 and 8 euro for two. Quite pricey.
Oragnic Products and Hoity Toity Meat - Damn, I miss buying free range hormone-free chicken breast for a reasonable cost. Just one piece of free range hormone-free chicken breast that I saw yesterday was 11.80 euro which is $16.05 in dollars. So I pass on that and buy regular meat which I am sure is just fine. There are plenty of organic marts here too but they are sparse inside and a bit pricier.
Utilities - Crimony! Water is crazy expensive! Our first water bill was 275 euro for 2-3 months. That equals $400!! So then we monitored our water intake and the bill I received today was 175euro--still very expensive! Electricity and gas is also very expensive.
We had a wonderful time in Sitges Spain a fabulous little beach town. We took the Renfe high speed train to Sitges which surprisingly took only 30min. We also brought along our good friend Shelley and her little angel baby boy Remi. We had a great day of wandering and eating.
The beaches were amazing unfortunately it was too cold to go into the water but we still had a great time! The town was cute and cozy it was a very fun day. We plan to go back again sometime before we leave!!!
If you ever are in Spain I highly recommend Sitges!!
Friends from San Francisco came for a visit in September. We were thrilled to have them, especially since it was during a transitional time for us. Here are some of the pictures they shared with us.
We waited for over an hour on a little street in Gracia for an outdoor table to open up. Luckily cacaolatlover snagged the first one that opened up for us.
After a great lunch, we headed over to the Boqueria Market where we slurped down fresh fruit smoothies. My personal favorite was Strawberry Coconut.
I started taking a Flamenco dance class a couple of weeks ago. Since my first class it has become quite an obsession. My only regret was not starting classes back in 2008 when I first thought of doing this.
Taken directly from wikipedia - "Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part.[1]
The cante (singing), toque (guitar playing), dance and palmas (handclaps) are the principal facets of flamenco."
My interest in Flamenco dancing is much more shallow than its rich history. I always loved how beautiful and strong the female dancers looked. Powerful yet feminine. Also the fact that so many dancers wore the color red. It's been years since my last dance class and I feel like dancing is a great way to exercise as well as meet some other women and learn a bit about Spain.
My first class was inspiring as well as completely surreal. There I was in a class of all these long haired beautiful women and some of them appeared to be in full Flamenco wear with frilly tops and flowers in their hair, which made me wonder if I was in the beginner class. The class was held in this old school ballroom with strong wooden floors that make an amazing sound when we all stomp on it with our shoes. There were elements of Spanish and Flamenco culture all around the ballroom complete with a large bullhead. (is it real? I dunno.)
Since I speak very little Spanish, it was a bit difficult. The most stressing was hearing "muy muy importante" after a long 10 minute intro. Umm yea.. didn't get what was so important, but I sure wish I did. I felt like I was doing well in the class until all of a sudden I didn't. The end of the class was quite a nightmare with opposite hands and feet but I am ok with that because I cannot wait until my next class!
Today we had Patatas Bravas at a restaurant named Mi Gracia they were delicious they were a special kind of patatas bravas recipe,altohugh they were not original patatas bravas and it was just a recipe created by Mi Gracia,they were very good.They were a variation of patatas bravas.
They were crunchy patato cubes with pesto on top they were very very good. I rate them a 8.They were new and good!!!! My taste buds definietely enjoyed thesse ones! Thumbs up!!!!!!!!
In the Western Medirrranean lies the Balearic Islands. The largest islands in this archipelago consist of Eivsisa (Ibiza), Formerntera, Minorca and Majorca. We visited Majorca for the first time this summer. It was beautiful and hot which made perfect swimming weather.
We stayed a couple of nights in Palma and the rest of the time in a beautiful flat in Puerto de Pollenca. Palma was active, lively and alluring whereas Pollenca was quaint, quiet yet still offered plenty of options. Our flat had an airy terrace with an ocean view which we enjoyed every night with breakfast and dinner. Our lil one even enjoyed her first birthday there. She's a fancy one.
